Catastrophic Impairment Is Still A Label, Not A Benefit

This blog is a footnote to a related blog, Catastrophic Impairment is a Label, Not a Benefit, posted April 21, 2015, in which I discussed the Divisional Court decision in Do v. Guarantee ("Do"), which held that the two-year limitation period governing the denial of a benefit had no application when the issue in dispute related to the catastrophic impairment designation.  In Do, Mr. Do was allowed to commence an arbitration proceeding two years and nine months after The Guarantee Company first refused his application for catastrophic impairment.  His arbitration was not statute barred.

A recent decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal has put to rest any lingering doubt that the Divisional Court decision would stand. In Machaj v. RBC General Insurance Company 2016 ONCA 257, in a brief seven-paragraph endorsement, the Court of Appeal reversed the Order of Justice A.C.R. Whitten of the Superior Court of Justice from July of 2015.  Justice Whitten had distinguished Do